Around Town

New Canaan Marks Veterans Day in Ceremony at Town Hall

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Though the many ways that civilians thank U.S. military veterans are right and appropriate—parades, observances, moments of silence and simple thank-you’s, for example—the most complete ways to honor those who have served must deliver both recognition and lasting empowerment, one active serviceman said Wednesday. The United States currently counts about 50,000 homeless veterans—a group that is susceptible to suicide at a 50 percent higher rate than civilians, according to statistics cited by Lt. Todd Kniffen, who commands an officer candidate company of 100 young men and women in Newport, R.I., and whose mother lives here in New Canaan. “Indeed, more veterans have been lost to suicide than have been killed in combat operations since the global War on Terror began,” Kniffen told more than 100 people (many of them in uniform) gathered in the Town Meeting Room for the community’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony, moved inside from its usual location by the Wayside Cross at God’s Acre due to foul weather. “Raise awareness of these facts, volunteer your time and resources to causes that fight these trends. By doing so I promise that you gain, for the world and for the nation, a person whose core motivation is duty and service.

Around Town

New Canaan Marks Veterans Day with Solemn Service at God’s Acre

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In Flanders fields the poppies grow,
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.    If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

Around Town

Local DAR Chapter, First Selectman Mark Constitution Week

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[Editor’s Note: The following write-up and photo came in from New Canaan’s Hannah Benedict Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which participated in last week’s 9/11 memorial ceremony by giving to the town a “flag of remembrance” that hangs near the 9/11 memorial at the fire department.]

A proclamation, submitted by New Canaan’s Hannah Benedict Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is signed by First Selectman Robert E. Mallozzi III marking the 227th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States. Also celebrated is the 223rd anniversary of the first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights. The U.S. Constitution, signed in 1787, is the oldest constitution still in active use in the world today and is the basic document of our republic which protects the individual liberties of all citizens through written law. The proclamation marks the anniversary of Constitution Week which is September 17th through September 23rd, 2014. President Eisenhower signed Constitution Week into law in 1956.